Wellness Watchers

Why isn’t their a mental/emotional health program for folks as there is for eating? I think I’d benefit from a support group – much like Weight Watchers – where “wellness” was the subject matter instead of eating or food.

People can get wound up in how or what they eat affects them. All this crap about Vegan or Paleo or whatever the new Paleo is. Interesting, for sure, but it’s only one facet of wellness.

I’m just as guilty as anyone else about this. I tend to focus too much on my running (or lack thereof, because of injury). I also tend to cheat on snacks, sweets & secret eating late at night which spoils an otherwise healthy day and leaves me with guilt and a belly ache.

What I really like about thinking about wellness is it incorporates my thoughts and my feelings, not just some empirical data about how fast, how long or how much.

That’s the hidden secret – in my mind (double meaning!) – about quantified self: I can (and should) record my thoughts & my feelings along with my statistics. Over time my mood should be trackable and sustainable just as much as running speed, distance or pounds lifted and pound lost.

Both RunKeeper & DailyMile have integrated this kind of “feeling” data point and that’s a good feature, but it’s not the whole picture.

It sounds simple, but it definitely takes the same kind of discipline to watch your thoughts as it takes to watch your form or watch what you eat.

Enter: Wellness Watchers

Maybe we meet at the gym.
Maybe it’s this blog.
Maybe it’s for a pint after work.

And why not?

A little drink is good for your mental health and wellness ought to be about enjoyment and fulfillment and everything else and not about attaining some kind of ideal where you’re never tempted to enjoy the things that surely warrant enjoyment.

Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called everybody, and they meet at the bar.”

~Drew Carey

Fries and ice cream and all the rest are equally OK, but it’s the moderation we seem to forget.

Anyhow, it just struck me this morning that no one talks about overall wellness. They mention a diet or an exercise regimen – and those things can certainly make you feel better – but shouldn’t the focus be on wellness first and then on the activities that support wellness and not on the activities first and *hopefully* you’ll be well after that?

The reason I started this post is because I’ve been feeling low recently. Not working out & not eating right have taken their toll or maybe they’re the result of feeling bad first. Hard to tell the chicken from the egg.

Then, last week, I ran a ton and I’m continuing to work out this week, but my results have been mixed.

I’m thinking I need to focus on the emotional/mental first and then the physical will come. Who knows.

Just a thought (or three).

What’s healthy?
What’s well?

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